Geometry Chart

You don't have to empty your bank account to get into cycling. This aluminum road bike is equipped with some solid Shimano components and a comfortable carbon fork to let you get out on the road and enjoy a ride without having to take out a second mortgage on your house. The AL-1 is efficient, comfortable, and it's got plenty of gears for hilly rides.

Lightweight aluminum frame is sturdy and reliable for years of use

New and improved Shimano Sora 3400 27-speed drivetrain gives you plenty of gears for blasting up and over your local climbs

I decided not to waste my money on an expensive bike, so I got this. Great bike with some nice components. Added some Shimano clipless pedals and a new seat. The seat is agony for anything more than 5 miles. Replace it and you are good to go.

Bike is great deal for the price (came out to under $480 with discounts). Shipped really fast too. Assembly wasn't too bad, but no instructions. If you've ever worked on a bike, you should be able to figure it out. I will have to take it to the shop to adjust the gears, as I don't know how to do that. It's light and fast. The seat is really uncomfortable (female rider). Planning on getting a new one. Also will upgrade to clip-in pedals. This is the second bike I've gotten from Nashbar and both have been great.

I bought this as a gift for my son as a step up from his last bike. I didn't want to get him a real expensive machine because of his track record of taking care of things, but i wanted one good enough that he would want to take care of it. It arrived in three days and took about 45 minutes to put together taking my time. The front wheel needed to be trued, which took an addtional 15 minutes. I'm a pretty good mechanic and you should have one assemble this if you are not. I rode it, some frame flex, but I was impressed with the smoothness and responsiveness. There are no decals on the silver painted frame, leaving a creative person license to cut some on a printer. I saw a Schwinn branded bike with the exact same components for $800, which is what you should expect to pay for a bike at this level in a store. The top tube is too long in my opinion as is the trend these days. The stem is long adding to the problem, but a young guy might not see it that way. I would fit it out with a shorter higher angle stem for me. It has a triple crank but is not really set up for a rack, so a double would have been fine. This has a nine speed on the rear, note many bikes in this price range have 8.

Easy to set up out of the box, I put my other pedals on it as they go with my shoe clips. Bike is almost the same as my cannon dale of 20 years. The old bike was ready to go as a backup if needed. The headset is beefier than the old bike. They drive train is solid too, the cranks are a great upgrade and the new rims are sweet. Never thought I would have carbon fiber forks either. I think this is more than an entry level ride even though thats what they say. The bike is much lighter than my old cannon dale too!

Bought this bike to get out there and introduce myself to road biking. What a great entry level bike! Decent components and kinda lightweight. Quick,nimble ride. My only complaints were the stem and handlebars, but no worries, Ive upgraded them to a shorter stem and a more ergo handlebar.Also added, a computer and water bottle cages. With a bike like this anything can be upgraded to your liking. Really cheap price makes it affordable. The seat seems to be just fine, which others seem to dislike because its uncomfortable. Ive also logged numerous hours spinning this bike in a indoor trainer.

I would reccommend a professional put it together for you when you receive it. It needed some basic adjustments and wheel tuning. Also think about a bike fit at your local bicycle shop, it will be worth it.

Ive been logging 10 to 50 mile rides on this beast and its all good. Save your money and buy this low end ride, it doesnt matter. What does matter is that your pedaling and smiling!!

This is definitely a great purchase for the money. I have ridden it about 100 miles in the first couple weeks of ownership, and I am very satisfied. The Shimano Sora equipment line is very nice and the ride is smooth. You won't be disappointed with this if your intentions are just to ride 20-50 miles a few weekends a month, charity rides and so forth.

I decided to try to build it myself. There are no assembly instructions (for some reason I thought there would be), but it is fairly obvious what you need to do. It is too difficult to do the derailleur adjustments on your own if you don't have expertise in bike maintenance. I had a little grinding in some gears that I couldn't fix - it would be different if they were pre-adjusted (mine obviously weren't). Also, my wheels needed to be trued and it is hard to know if you have everything set up right for your body. For this reason, I'd recommend having a local bike shop do the build for you. I ended up taking mine in after I did the basic assembly for some fine tuning and wheel truing - so you might as well have them do it all.

I had a more comfortable seat that I immediately swapped out the stock seat for, and yes the stock seat will kill you if you plan to ride any distance at all.

Toe clips are ok but you might end up wanting the clipless shoes, like I do now.

With the money you save on the bike, you can afford to buy the things this bike is missing and get on the road for a lot cheaper than alternatives. Highly recommended.